


Sleepwalking

by BonDotCom



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Inspired By Tumblr, Starts before the season 2 finale arc, What's a little breaking and entering between girlfriends, of course
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2018-11-03 15:19:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10969962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BonDotCom/pseuds/BonDotCom
Summary: The only thing worse than sleepwalking, is sleepwalking with super powers.Especially when it leads directly to a pretty girl.





	1. Fancy Meeting You Here

National City has its share of problems, and for the most part Supergirl is up to the task of supporting her city through anything. Sometimes she leans on the DEO to support _her_ through some of it, when the going gets tough. And the past few weeks have been _especially tough._

 

A clan of Fire People (who are exactly what you would think) had been slowly released into highly populated parts of the city by Cadmus starting on a Friday night, and the last one had not been rounded up by the DEO until three Wednesdays later. The time in-between Kara spent almost all of her time putting out fires, coordinating with Lena and the DEO to try and find where Cadmus could be holding more of the aliens, and trying to find where in the sewer system and other tunnels under the city the free Fire People were hiding.

 

She felt kinda bad for them - they didn't _want_ to hurt anyone, but they couldn't really help it because they were literally made of _actual fire_. It was a bit like when she first arrived on Earth and couldn't control her own strength and broke everything she touched. Completely normal to panic in that situation. Perfectly understandable that they would try to isolate themselves. Of course they reacted badly when she burst into their hideout, and maybe threw some of their incredibly hot plasma at her. It's fine. Totally cool. Now they're all contained in a holding vault at the DEO, negotiating with J'onn on next steps, and Kara can sympathize with their fear of what could have happened to them if the DEO really was as bad as Cadmus claimed.

 

However, all the sympathy in the world won't change the fact Kara is practically covered in soot from head to toe and too exhausted to care.

 

She flies into her living room and drops the last few inches to the ground, letting gravity take over. She's only just short of completely burning out her powers, so a smooth landing is too much effort. She can't even be bothered to close the window behind her. Whatever. It's fine. Let the burglars come. She can take them.

 

She considers just crashing on the couch, which is closer than the bed, but she is _filthy_ and washing her blankets later is easier than shampooing the couch. She makes it to the bed, flops down flat on her face, and passes out within seconds.

 

Kara is thankful for the blank, dreamless sleep she falls into that night. Without the usual visions of the city burning down around her, she sleeps straight through the night for the first time in nearly a month. She's still exhausted when she wakes, but it's not the bone-aching level of weariness she had before. It's a relief, really, to only be _normal_ exhausted instead of _super_ exhausted. The pleasant feeling diminishes slightly when she moves, and every inch of her supersuit reminds her that she is still dressed and still covered in grit.

 

The rest of her serenity disappears when she gets up and realizes _she has no idea where she is._

 

She's in a spacious bedroom, that much is obvious, but she's never seen it before and each new detail is more confusing than the last. The strange bedroom has a modest balcony, its doors open to let in sunlight, a light breeze, and a view of the city and its waterfront that is far, far better than Kara could ever afford. The walls are a warm tone of gray, the furniture sleek and dark. The curtains and bedding are all incredibly soft and a pristine white - except for the wide strip of bed Kara had occupied, which has an uneven coating of black.

 

She catches the edges of her cape and holds it close to her legs to keep it from touching anything else.

 

She turns in a small circle, ignoring the dirty footprints she creates, trying to figure out just whose apartment she has broken into. It's definitely not any of the superfriends - she’s familiar with each of their apartments and none of them could have _that_ view. James is the only one who comes close, but she's on the wrong side of the city and nothing here is his style. For a terrifying second she thinks it could be Cat’s new place, but unless Kara’s internal compass is completely confused she is still in National City while Cat is on the other side of the country. There aren't any photographs in the room to give her a clue, but that also cements the not-Cat theory. She's fairly certain Cat would have pictures of Carter all over. She is that kind of mom, whether she lets anyone else see it or not.

 

It can't be Alex, can't be Cat, can't be James, or J'onn, or Winn, or even Maggie. Can't be a stranger, since every time Kara has a sleep-flying episode she goes to someone close to her. So, by process of elimination, there is really only one person she could have flown to in the middle of the night. She tunes her hearing to the other side of the door, hears someone humming to themself, and nearly dies from embarrassment when she finds out she guessed right.

 

_For Rao's sake, she doesn't even know what block Lena Luthor’s apartment is on._

 

* * *

 

The sleep-flying isn't new, exactly.

 

Back on Krypton, especially when Kara was very young, she would sleep-walk in the El manor at least once a week. Her parents found it endearing, because she was like a little homing missile. They never figured out how it happened, but she would seek out one of her family regardless of where they were - Zor-El in his study, Alura in her office, both in the common room or their bedroom, Astra every time she had stayed at the house past Kara's bedtime. Then, once she found them, she would try to cuddle up however she could - climbing in laps or curling around her target. Waking her up during these episodes was practically impossible, but she could be repositioned easily enough to not be an inconvenience. Over time, the habit decreased and seemed to have nearly disappeared by the time Kara officially became a teenager.

 

But then, well, _Krypton exploded._

 

The problem (and it was definitely seen as a problem on Earth) came back, worse than before. Kal El didn't know what to do with a teenage girl, much less a teenage girl who would go to sleep in his room and wake up wedged between him and the back of the couch every day. Then he moved Kara in with the Danverses (where she had her own bedroom instead of stealing his) and she became, essentially, _Alex's_ problem. A few times she gravitated to Eliza instead, but 9 mornings out of 10 Alex woke up to Kara hogging all the blankets or pushing her out of the twin bed with over-aggressive cuddling. Alex only yelled about it for the first few months, then toned it down to grumbling instead, but the grumbling never really stopped.

 

To Kara, finding yet another way she was weird and alien was embarrassing and frustrating.

 

To Alex, a single child of fifteen years, suddenly sharing her bed with her weird foster sister was _the actual worst._

 

The thing that made it completely unacceptable was finding out just how far Kara's homing beacon could reach. Not only did Kara go into Alex's room at the other end of the hall, she would also _float out a window_ to find Alex if she was sitting on the roof. Once (thank god it only happened once) Kara appeared suddenly at a sleepover at _Vicky’s_ house. _A half mile away from home._  She arrived while they were asleep, and no one ever said they saw Kara flying across the neighborhood, but… Still. Alex didn't go to a sleepover again until Kara stayed in her own room for a month straight, just to be sure.

 

By the time Alex moved out for college, Kara was fairly confident she had grown out of the habit again. It hadn't happened for over a year, everything would be fine.

 

And it was.

 

Kara and Alex each went to college, each began their own careers, each moved into their own apartments in National City. They sort of forgot it was ever a big deal, especially after Kara became Supergirl. It became something they told stories about and laughed, a light contrast to the daily drama of superheroing.

 

Kara never mentions that she still keeps all her windows and doors locked when she goes to sleep. Just in case.

 

* * *

 

Kara carefully exits Lena's bedroom, worrying her cape between her fingers, and finds Lena in the kitchen of a huge open plan apartment. She's already dressed, polished and ready for the office and apparently nursing a cup of coffee while fidgeting with her phone. Lena gives a bright, if slightly nervous, smile when she notices Kara has emerged and is staring around the space. “Good morning, Supergirl! You were certainly a surprising thing to wake up to.”

 

“I- I am deeply sorry for the intrusion, Miss Luthor.” Kara moves farther into the open center of Lena's apartment, keeping a tight hold on her cape. “I don't really know how I got here.”

 

“I would assume you flew, since you came in via my balcony.” Kara makes an exasperated huff at Lena's sarcasm, and Lena's smile turns dangerous as she regains the upper hand.  “Call me Lena, please. When you wake up in bed with another woman wrapped around you I think it best to be on a first name basis.”

 

“Of- of course, Lena.” Kara's face has gone completely red and she regrets the decision to not just fly away and pretend nothing happened. “I’m sorry about the mess. I can pay to have your sheets cleaned or, or I can replace them? Whichever you prefer.”

 

Lena waves off the apology. “I'm fairly confident I make more money than the government pays you, Supergirl. Don’t worry about it.”

 

“Right. Sorry.”

 

“Really I'm just glad you're awake.” Lena laughs at the admission, and there's still an edge of nerves about her. “If you slept much longer I was going to call Agent Danvers and ask if you're always impossible to rouse after ten hours of sleep or if I should be worried.”

 

“Yeah, it… it happens sometimes. But I promise it won't happen again.” Kara shakes her head, and cringes at the cloud of charcoal fragments the motion sends to the ground. “I shouldn't have bothered you.“

 

“It’s no bother, Supergirl. I've spent a night next to far worse people.” Lena’s eyes drift down over Kara, along the trail of dust leading to the bedroom, and back up, her expression shifting to concern. “I'm being a terrible hostess, can I get you anything? Some breakfast, some coffee? A shower?”

 

“No, no, um.” Kara's stomach growls at the suggestion of food, but she ignores it and backs toward the windows. “No, I should, I should go. Lots to do. New day to save. Thank you, though.” She trips over the edge of a rug, catches herself by hovering. Hopes against hope she didn't just ruin _even more_ of Lena’s things. “Text me if there's anything I can do to make all this up to you, or, or Kara - text Kara if there's anything you need. From either of us. ”

 

“Alright, if you're sure.”

 

Kara’s flown out the door to a second balcony ( _a second balcony, dear Rao_ ) and off into the sky the second after Lena accepts.

 

The entire way home she berates herself that now she can never, ever see Lena again lest she combust from shame. The thought of losing their friendship makes Kara's heart drop like a stone, but there's no way she could recover from _this._  Things like _this_ are exactly why she reinforced the locks on her windows, and she's going to lock them the second she gets home and weld them shut with her heat vision and see what other excessive security measures she can take against herself.

 

 _Rao's light,_  she might combust from shame now _without_ ever seeing Lena again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This gone be fun.
> 
> http://sango-blep.tumblr.com/post/158300863076/loserlena-lambocalypse


	2. So, You Come Here Often?

For the second time in as many nights, Lena wakes up to the low beeping of her security system, followed by strong arms sliding around her waist and a solid body settling tightly behind her own.

 

While still a shock, it's much less alarming the second time.

 

“Supergirl?” No response. Lena tries again, lightly elbowing her companion in the ribs. “Supergirl, are you awake?” The superhero groans and burrows closer, but that isn't exactly the response she was looking for. She stretches to reach her nightstand (Supergirl huffs when she has to pull away, but doesn't try to stop her) and taps the all-clear code into a keypad mounted on the side. The beeping stops, and she twists to examine the grumbling intruder in her bed.

 

This time, Supergirl's uniform has been replaced with soft lavender pajamas and there's not soot everywhere. The dark circles under those big expressive eyes are even more apparent now with her face clean and her hair messily gathered into a topknot. There's a petulant sort of pout on her face, which deepens when Lena tries again to gently shake her awake.

 

“Kara. Kara, come on.” Lena isn't supposed to know, but she also isn't stupid, and really Kara could not look any less like Supergirl right now if she tried. They can go back to pretending she hasn't figured it out tomorrow. “Come get under the blankets, I don't want you to get cold.”

 

Lena slips out of bed and Kara whines, but still doesn't wake up. Lena tugs at the blankets, to no avail. She pulls on Kara's arm, with no result, then attempts to just pick Kara up out of desperation. Surprisingly, Kara goes weightless and hovers midair, so Lena lifts her high enough to pull the blankets down and back up over her. Lena really must study how Kara's flight works, she still looks exactly like she's lying on a flat surface except that her clothes still drape down. Assuming she remembers in the morning, and gets back to sleep ever. _Anyway, that's the hard part done._

 

Now for the floating issue. Lena considers her options, tries to press Kara back down the same way she lifted her up, and barks out a startled laugh when gravity suddenly takes hold again. Kara adjusts the pillows and blankets like nothing extraordinary just happened, then reaches out toward Lena with grabby hands and another whine.

 

If she were any less sleepy, Lena might get distracted with abusing this newfound power she has to move the sleeping superhero however she likes. Instead, she is just focused on the fact that Kara (brilliant, beautiful, sweet, _warm_ Kara) is actively seeking her out. She stands next to the bed, watching Kara pout, and chewing on her lip as she considers whether to sleep in the guest room or on the couch. Kara was thoroughly embarrassed about finding herself in Lena's bed yesterday morning, to the point she couldn't muster any of the usual Supergirl stoicism. Lena hadn't heard a word from either persona since she suddenly flew out the door something over 12 hours ago and if Kara was conscious she would certainly still be avoiding Lena instead of snuggling up to her. Kara may be the master of mixed signals, but Lena thinks she can at least read the girl that well. Maybe sleeping somewhere else would help.

 

Kara scoots closer with more grumbling, hands still trying to seek Lena out. She wonders vaguely if Kara would just follow her to whatever other room she went to, but she really shouldn't want to find out. Either way, staying here isn't an option. Taking advantage of this apparent cuddly coma wouldn't be the right thing to do. Right, yes, she'll keep her distance. She can do that. The guest bed is perfectly comfortable. Resisting the temptation to crawl back into bed with the physical manifestation of sunshine, with her messy hair and demanding hands and pouting lips, should be the easiest thing Lena's ever done. 

 

She's a Luthor, and Luthors are made of stone.

 

It takes maybe two seconds for Kara’s fingers to find Lena's hip and another two of gentle tugging at the hem of Lena's shirt for her resolve to give out. 

 

She slides back into the bed and settles on her side so her back is to Kara. She thinks about trying to keep some distance between them, that somehow she could mitigate the damage caused by her weakness. Stay at arm's length away from Kara to spare the girl's dignity. 

 

Kara has no such reservations. Her hands carefully wrap around Lena's hips and pull, dragging her in, and there's a second or two of mutual shifting and tugging before she's been secured against the hero again. They're practically pressed together from head to toe, one of Kara's arms curled under Lena's head and the other wrapped snug across her stomach. Lena is 80% certain that Kara is _purring_ though it may just be a long, quiet hum. As far as she knows Kryptonians are mostly the same as humans, minus the super powers, so actual purring would be a surprise. Certainly not something that was in Lex’s old notes. 

 

The hum changes into a mumble and Kara nuzzles into Lena's hair while trying to press even closer. None of the mumbling makes much sense, some of it is in different languages, but Lena catches _found you_ and _stay right here_ and _keep you close_ in the mix and each one makes her heart beat a little faster.

 

The very selfish part of her wishes that Kara would feel that way after she wakes up, too. That the conscious version of her would also want to hold Lena tight and cuddle so close that her hips are gently bracketing Lena's butt. That Kara would whisper such sweet things to her when actually aware of what she's saying, and who she's saying them to. For now, Lena wraps an arm around Kara's and holds on tight while it's still allowed. In the morning they can talk, and she can find out just what Kara's feelings are. 

 

In the morning, Kara wakes long after Lena has already gotten out of bed and flies away with a handful of apologies and half an excuse about hearing an emergency before Lena even says hello. Clearly, she needs a better plan. 

 

* * *

 

The third time Kara wakes up in Lena's bed she starts swearing in Kryptonian the second she recognizes the luxurious sheets. 

 

Her last two mornings were spent stuttering like an idiot until the first opportunity to fly away, followed by avoiding any contact with Lena, and now it's just getting ridiculous. She's not even exhausted anymore. Well, she's not _that_ exhausted anymore. Supergirl’s workload hasn't gotten much lighter, but it's mostly back to normal. There's no reason she should be breaking out of her own apartment or consistently breaking into Lena's. She really _should_ weld her damned windows shut, even if it would be inconvenient for emergencies. Lena says she doesn't mind the intrusion, but honestly, Kara's subconscious should at least be polite enough to give Lena a break and go harass Alex instead.

 

Alex is family, so she has to put up with Kara’s quirks. Lena is just a friend (one of Kara's _best_ friends, but still) and has a choice in the matter and is bound to tell her to go away and never come back any second now.

 

“I'm afraid I didn't catch any of that, but I assume it wasn't English.” Lena comes into the room with a mug in one hand and a smallish box in the other. “Or Gaelic, I also know some fantastic curses in Gaelic.”

 

Kara's jaw drops a little at the sight of Lena in a black tank top and green plaid pajama pants, with her hair loose and square black glasses on her nose. Normally (Rao, _normally,_ it's been _two days_ ) Kara has found Lena fully put together when Kara finally emerged sometime after ten. She was always greeted with the same image of power Lena projected in her office, with the contacts and eyeliner and tailored business professional clothes, even if the sharp edges were less severe at home. This look, though, all smooth curves and soft fabrics… well. It quickly becomes Kara's favorite version of Lena yet. She's always beautiful, but this version is _utterly disarming,_ and when she gives Kara a warm smile all her thoughts suddenly disappear. 

 

“Were you speaking Kryptonian?” _Oh no she's doing the quiet curiosity thing and the eyebrows it’s not fair when she does the quiet curiosity thing and the eyebrows._

 

“What?” Kara's brain starts working again as Lena sits on the edge of the bed and passes her the mug. “Yes, yes that was Kryptonian. Definitely not anything you should repeat, though. At least not in polite company.”

 

“Ah, but the rude parts of a language are always the most fun to learn.” Lena flashes the wicked grin that makes Kara’s throat go dry, then focuses back on opening the box in her hands. “I didn't know what flavor you would prefer in this sort of thing, but I figured chocolate is always a safe bet.”

 

It's a box of granola bars. Or at least something that looks like granola bars when Lena holds them out. Kara takes one and turns it over. “Pemmican? What's that?”

 

“The most calorie-dense protein bar I could locate in the city.” Kara looks up at Lena, even more confused than before. She shrugs and continues, “I assume that flying burns a significant number of calories, so you must be hungry when you wake up. This seems the most efficient way to solve that, or at least take the edge off while we make something more palatable.”

 

“This… No, yeah, that's a great idea.” Kara opens the wrapper and takes a bite, and it might just be because she's starving but it tastes _amazing._ “Woh… Fank you.”

 

“Everything I read said they're kind of difficult to get through, thus the coffee. You can tell me how they are after you slow down enough to actually _taste_ one.” Kara takes a swig of coffee (which has the perfect concentration of creamer, aka _a lot_ ) and starts in on a second bar. She doesn't respond to Lena's teasing smirk other than a sidelong look. “You know, I'm surprised your pajamas don't have the logo on them as well. You usually seem so committed to your brand.”

 

That gets Lena an actual offended stare. “It is not a logo, it's my family’s crest. Branding is what you put on _merchandise_. My crest, my suit is- is a badge of honor.”

 

“And yet they do make a _wide_ variety of apparel with your crest on them.”

 

“They do not.” Sure, Kara's seen a t-shirt or two, maybe some baseball caps, but what Lena is implying...

 

“Mmhmm. I forget who all CatCo licensed the logo to, but there are most certainly Supergirl pajamas. Even some with considerably less modesty than you'd expect.”

 

Kara's eyes go wide with panic. “Miss Grant would never.” _Cat completely would._ “Posters and stuff is one thing, but-”

 

“I'll get you a set.” Lena grins, wide and wicked, as she stands and moves toward the door. “I think I saw one that's got these little tiny shorts? I'll google it. Maybe ship them to the DEO for you.” 

 

“Lena, no!” Kara scrambles up to follow her, remembers that she's supposed to be Supergirl right now, and puts on the hero voice as best she can. “Miss Luthor, that would be _terribly_ unprofessional.”

 

Lena just laughs. “Oh, the girls would positively _swoon._ At least half the agents would have a stroke.”

 

“ _Lena!_ ” Kara chases her out the door.

 

* * *

 

“You know, you don't have to be so nice to me.” It's the morning of their fourth impromptu sleepover in a row, and for the second morning in a row Supergirl has not left. Kara is, instead, sitting on Lena's kitchen counter watching her make pancakes. Today's matching pajama set has cap sleeves, putting Kara's toned arms on full display, so Lena isn't entirely paying attention to the conversation. She knows Kara is expecting her to be upset, but she has to guess at why.

 

“Sweetheart, if I knew cooking was so far from your list of abilities I would have given you much more supervision with the bacon. It's not your fault.”

 

“No, not that.” Kara huffs and shakes her head, fidgeting with her coffee. “I mean how I keep showing up here like a stray cat you fed once.”

 

“Do superheroes work like stray cats? I should have started feeding you sooner.” Lena grins and tries to make eye contact but Kara keeps frowning into her cup. “Seriously, why would I be upset? I told you before, I enjoy your company. You're always welcome here.”

 

“I remember, but just- I mean-” Kara finally looks up, throws a hand out toward Lena's bedroom. “How many times have you had to fix that door?”

 

“Just the once.” Kara raises both eyebrows, and Lena continues. “Really. Between nights one and two the right parts weren't available locally, and I wasn't in any particular rush to get it fixed. Nights three and four I simply didn't lock it under the assumption that this,” she gestures between them, “was going to be a recurring thing.”

 

“That is so unsafe!” She shouldn't, but Lena laughs at Kara's outburst of distress. It's just so... _Kara._  “You can't leave your doors open just because the person breaking in could be _me!_ What if someone else tried to get in here?”

 

“I lock everything else, it's fine. _Most people_ know that balconies are not supposed to be entrances.” Lena laughs more at the offended snort Kara makes. “And I do have an active security system, I just told it that you're a trusted entity. So calm down before you spill everywhere.”

 

Kara grumbles into her mug, both hands wrapped around it and her shoulders up to her ears. Lena pats her knee affectionately, smiling up at the grumpy superhero who's so concerned for her safety. For a moment it's nice, the scene filling her with a warm domestic bliss: coffee, pancakes, and a beautiful girl to share it with. What more could she want?

 

Of course, it doesn't last long. 

 

Kara suddenly straightens up, eyes unfocused and head turning to point an ear toward the windows. She's frozen like that for a second before her eyebrows crinkle together and she pushes off the counter. “Sirens,” she mutters distractedly. “I have to go.”

 

“What?” Lena didn't hear anything, of course, but when she looks out the window there's a column of smoke stretching into the sky from the far side of downtown. She's almost ashamed of her relief that there is actually a disaster this time. “Oh. Yes, of course. Will you be back after?”

 

Kara stops, halfway to the windows, and turns back toward Lena with a surprised look on her face. “Would… Do you want me to come back?”

 

“What do _you_ think.” It should have been obvious, shouldn't it?

 

The day before, their breakfast was interrupted by a call from Jess about a problem in R&D and she'd made endless apologies for the disappointment on Kara's face. But Lena doesn't know what to do with the way Kara’s eyes soften now, the fact Kara _notices_ for once when Lena shows her hand, so she deflects from her apparent neediness to the dozen pancakes stacked by the stove. “I'm not going to eat all of this by myself, now am I?”

 

Kara laughs softly, and before Lena can blink Kara's in her personal space, leaning past her to pick up three (scalding hot) pancakes in one hand. “Then I'll see you later.”

 

There's a moment where Lena thinks Kara might kiss her. She can feel the tension in the air and hear the gears turning in Kara's head. She's _right there_ and it would be _so easy_ for Lena to just make that decision for her and end this game once and for all. To find out, one way or another, how deep this all goes and leave the tangled logistics problems for later.

 

Lena's just starting to lean in when Kara pulls back an inch, head tilting to the side and her attention suddenly far away. “ _Another_ riot van. Why would they…?” Lena leans away again with a controlled sigh. _So much for that idea._ “I, uh, I don't know how long this will take. But I will be back.”

 

“Okay.” Kara’s focus returns, so Lena forces a smile. “You know where to find me, Supergirl.”

 

Kara smiles that unfairly charming smile (Lena might get distracted by her mouth) then she's gone in a burst of air. Lena turns off the stove, takes a second to control herself, then turns on the news to watch Supergirl save the day. There's fire and explosions and aliens, all the usual elements of this particular circus, but it isn't until the first wide-angle helicopter shot of the improvised battleground that she realizes exactly _which_ industrial complex Kara is protecting from what looks like a giant praying mantis and its two best scorpion friends. 

 

Oh no.

 

Oh _, no_.

 

Her phone makes its ‘new important email’ chime at least a dozen times, continuously, until it's interrupted by the overly cheerful ringtone she chose for her PR director.

  
_ It's going to be a very long day. _


	3. Maybe We Could Go For A Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been getting in a fight with the timeline, so I have three or four more "blocks" half written that I can't get to flow right together. However! I do know that this block is the next block, following directly from the last chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy! See you all again soon(ish)!

Kara lands on Lena's office balcony well after 8 pm, with two white plastic bags in each hand. Lena is alone, pacing in the space behind her desk with a headset flashing in her ear. Kara waits until Lena makes eye contact to enter, and cringes a little at the tense phone conversation in progress. 

 

“... which is why L-Corp is going to do everything in our power to support our employees in this time of distress. Only one of the three production lines was damaged, yes, but we are working to ensure the building is completely safe before sending our staff back to work. No-- No, our employees are simply more important than our supply chain. No. That isn't-- _Mr Carr_.” Lena rubs the bridge of her nose and half-glares at Kara, who tries very hard not to snort. Even without using her super hearing she could have identified Snapper growling out accusations on the other end. For the sake of her mood and Lena's privacy, she doesn't listen to what those accusations are and instead moves to set her bags onto the coffee table. ”Mr Carr, I understand you have a certain impression of me and my company, but I am not _a typical capitalist_ and I take offense to being included in such a group. As though I was a _Wayne_ or a _Lord_. Please. The employees who work in that factory will receive their full regular paycheck until such time as their workplace is deemed safe and fully operational, without having to jump through a single hoop. It's not their fault some giant insects decided they were hungry for those components.”

 

Apparently Snapper didn't know that detail of the case. 

 

He goes off on a triumphant rant, and Lena stops pacing to close her eyes and tilt her head back. She's perfectly still as she just lets him go on for a while, taking slow deliberate breaths through her nose. After ten seconds or so, long enough that everything from the bags has been unpacked into neat stacks on the table, Lena presses a button on her earpiece and turns to face Kara. “Sorry. I should be done in a minute.”

 

Snapper is still rambling away in the headset, so at least she didn't hang up on him. Kara’s honestly a little happy Lena is getting the rant instead of her, but it would be way worse if he had to call back. “There's no rush. Besides, I'm not going to eat all of this by myself.”

 

The reference earns Kara a slow grin, and she mirrors it back. Lena opens her mouth to say something, but stops short. She shakes her head and paces away, pressing a button on the headset. “Mr Carr, while I do truly enjoy our conversations I'm afraid I have a far more important engagement that I must attend to.” Snapper tries to interrupt, but Lena just plows on in the same ice-bright tone. “Yes, I know, I will miss you terribly as well. Have a _fantastic_ night.”

 

Lena hangs up on Snapper and tosses the headset onto her desk in one smooth motion. She turns back toward Kara, without a trace of the ice or malice she was just directing at Snapper, and Kara is a little intimidated by how well Lena uses her masks. 

 

And by how abruptly she just dismissed _Snapper Carr._

 

Kara has a hard enough time _disagreeing with_ him, and she could throw him into space.

 

“Right,” Lena sighs, looking deeply pleased with herself, and comes to join Kara by the table. She doesn't react to the awed look on Kara’s face, instead distracted by the stacks of small aluminum takeout pans and the logo printed on them. “Where… Where did you get all this?”

 

“Metropolis,” Kara answers easily. It should be obvious really, the address is printed right below the logo. 

 

“Metropolis.” Lena's tone is flat disbelief, contrasting with the broad grin on her face. “As in, complete opposite side of the continent from here, Metropolis.”

 

“Yes?” Kara looks down at the packages to check, then squints through the door that leads to Jess's desk. Jess isn't out there, it's the mean _other_ secretary, so Kara can't get outside help on this one. “Did I get the wrong Lanza’s? There's another one up near Emerald City, but that one’s really small and I asked a while ago but I’m pretty sure that Jess had said Metropolis--”

 

“No, no, that's the right one, it's just” - Lena starts laughing, and Kara is still lost as to what’s wrong - “you went all the way to _Metropolis_?”

 

“It's like a twenty minute flight. And they're your favorite, so,” she trails off with a shrug.

 

The entire trip is even more worth it when Lena smiles so brightly, with a blush in her cheeks. She squeezes Kara's hand, playing with the thumb loop on her sleeve, before she moves to get a closer look at what Kara's brought. “You are entirely too good to me.”

 

“There's no such thing.” Kara can feel herself blushing too, but she pushes that aside to instead start explaining how the stacks are sorted. “Okay so this one is all the seafood, and this one is the chicken, this one is the beef, this one is the vegetarian stuff, and that one with the smaller boxes is the dessert menu, minus the ice cream.”

 

Lena counts boxes while Kara is talking. “Did you seriously just get one of everything?”

 

“Well. I mean. I didn't get any of the pizzas.” Lena makes the face that Kara’s received every time she ordered a pizza at a fancy restaurant. Supergirl (who she is supposed to be right now) has not been out to eat with Lena and wouldn't recognize that look, or defend her choice that wood fired Neapolitan pizza is _completely_ fancy, so she just bites her lip. “I couldn't remember which thing was your favorite. And, well, then we get to try the other nineteen things.”

 

“Mm, how efficient.” Lena bends to shift through the chicken stack (Kara definitely doesn't stare at Lena's legs, or her butt) and finds what she's looking for two pans down. She takes it and a bundle of silverware to sit on the couch. _Chicken Picatta_ , says the lid. Kara _knew_ it was a chicken thing. “Twenty entrees and they only gave you two silverware packets?”

 

“Well, I only asked for two. I think they understood that was really all I needed once they saw I was _actually me_.” Kara picks up the top pans from the beef and seafood stacks, plus her own silverware, and sits down next to Lena. “I don't think they believed me over the phone.”

 

“They don't often get carryout orders from superheroes?”

 

“Surprisingly, no.”

 

Lena laughs at Kara's grinning sarcasm, and they fall into their usual easy banter. Kara tries to slow down a bit and savor the quality of everything from the restaurant, which is actually incredibly good, but she's still going through food far faster than Lena is. Lena's doing more of the talking though, telling stories from when she lived in Metropolis and would visit Lanza's every other week. Sometimes alone, sometimes with Lex, once with a girl, once with Jack. 

 

Lena recognized the handwriting on the lids and translated the few words that Kara couldn't make out from the scribbles. Lena asks who wrote them, and after a few more stories, Kara is fairly certain that Lena is at least a little in love with Gigi, the sous chef behind the handwriting. Gigi is also Eliza's age and happily married to the head chef, so Kara doesn't get _too_ jealous about it. 

 

Not that she has anything to be jealous about in the first place.

 

Lena isn't _hers_ or anything. Obviously.

 

Each time Kara picks up a new pan, Lena checks what it is. Each time Lena doesn't make a face at it - or the Lena version of making a face, which is crinkling her nose and twitching her lips into the shortest frown - Kara would offer Lena a bite, and usually she would accept. This system is how Kara learns that Lena is picky about seafood, but will usually go for crab or shrimp, and is the opposite of picky about chicken. Beef is more inconsistent, as are things with mushrooms. Lena has apparently never met a ravioli she doesn't like, and that even extends to ones that have _thistle_ in the pasta. (Kara leaves that dish in the office’s mini fridge - there are some things she will not eat.) Obviously Kara will have to bring the full menus of more restaurants to dinner, to figure out what Lena likes best other than weird plants and a species of bird she holds a personal grudge against. 

 

Rao, Alex would flip out if she knew how many times Kara _shared_ dishes with Lena, swapping pans back and forth, just to find out what got the best reactions.

 

Actually, Alex might flip out if she knew Lena and _Supergirl_ were having dinner together at all. She's earned a lot more of Alex's trust, but Lena isn't supposed to know. She _doesn't_ know. She _can't_ know. 

 

Oh no, what would Alex even _say_ if Lena knows?  

 

“I should get going, it's super late.” Kara yawns and shifts to put her last empty dish on the table. The entree pans are almost all empty and nested together on Kara's end of the table, with a few empty dessert boxes stacked on Lena's end.

 

“Is it?” Lena stifles a yawn of her own and checks her watch. It's close to midnight, which should have been more obvious since the evil secretary came in to say goodnight almost two hours ago. “I’ll call for a car,” Lena offers as she picks up her cell. 

 

“You don't have to, I can drop you off on my way home.” Lena looks up from her phone with a sharp curiosity that surprises Kara. “Well, it's not, it's not exactly on the way, it's kind of the wrong direction, not that you would know that, you don't know where I live of course but I mean, you know, flight. Everything's on the way when you can fly. Oh! You don't like to fly! I forgot. Right. Car. Yes. Of course. Perfect. Sorry.”

 

Kara isn't sure what the look on Lena's face means - it's amused and _something else_ but she can't tell if the something else is a _good_ something else. She doesn't think it is. Lena turns her gaze back to her phone, starts typing out a text. “You don't need a lift, then?” 

 

There's more to the offer than just a ride to her own apartment, and Kara is in no way prepared to answer that question. She's not even sure what the question is - all she knows is that Lena's pointedly neutral tone suggests she already knows the answer is no and is trying not to take it personally. “I should check in with the DEO, see if they need any help with those aliens.” Lena nods, still focused on her phone, and Kara can't sit still anymore. She stands, nearly falls down because she stood on her cape, starts nervously clearing the table. “Maybe do a round of the city before I go to bed. In my own apartment, because I do have my own apartment and I sleep in my own apartment like a normal person.”

 

Lena snorts quietly at _normal person._ “Of course. Worth a shot, I suppose.” She looks up from her phone, and her lightly teasing expression makes it clear the shot in question is Kara sleeping in her own bed for once. It feels less judgmental than it should. “My window is always open, if you need anything.”

 

“You _really should_ lock that door,” Kara insists. Lena grins at her the same way she did that morning, broad and soft and teasing. Kara gives an exasperated smile in return - she can't help it, not with Lena looking so _pretty_ and so _happy_. “Thank you. For the offer, and for breakfast this morning.”

 

“Anytime.” Lena’s phone buzzes with a text, and she rises to collect her bag and coat. “Thank _you_ for dinner. It was a nice visit to the past.”

 

“Anytime,” Kara echoes back. For an awkward moment, she doesn't know what to do. Each time Supergirl and Lena have had a conversation it ended with one or the other charging off to an emergency or an appointment. She doesn't actually know how Supergirl would say goodbye to a friend. Supergirl doesn't exactly have _friends._ She has colleagues, she has enemies, she has fans, but no friends who don't know both sides of her. 

 

Kara Danvers would just hug Lena goodbye and promise to text later, but Supergirl would do neither of those things. She could try for a handshake, maybe, but that would be weird and awkwardly formal. A wave would be too distant, they're definitely at a touching stage of their friendship seeing as they were sitting hip-to-hip on the couch. She could pretend to hear something again but Lena would only buy the fake emergency excuse so many times.

 

Lena must notice Kara's hesitation, and decides to resolve the issue for her. She shrugs on her coat, puts her bag over her arm, then casually moves into Kara's space from the side. Before Kara can react, Lena's hand is on her shoulder and Lena's lips are on her cheek. Lena pulls back with a warm smile. “Stay safe, Supergirl.”

 

Kara tries and fails to not blush and grin like an idiot that Lena just _kissed_ her. “You as well, Ms Luthor.”

 

Lena leaves Kara alone in the office and Kara might, maybe, stare at the sway of Lena's hips a little bit. She watches from the balcony to make sure Lena gets in the car and on her way safely, then does most of what she said. She texts Alex and J'onn to see if they need her, she does a few laps of the city looking for trouble, and she does eventually go to sleep in her own bed.

  
That she wakes up at Lena's yet again, with two boxes of pemmican and a note on the nightstand, is something Kara gives up on being mad about.


	4. A Quiet Night In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or, "Lena negotiates with a sleep-zombie, part 2."

It’s become ridiculous by the sixth night. Honestly, it was ridiculous from the start but Lena realizes the _full absurdity_ of the situation on the sixth night. 

 

She's going through her usual routine for bed, when she notices her routine has changed without her choosing to do so. Even though Supergirl was called away from dinner to deal with some alien threat, even though it's been nearly a week and Kara insists this is a thing that almost never happens and she's _so sorry_ and it should stop any day now, Lena is still operating under the assumption that Kara will be coming through that balcony door some time before dawn. 

 

She checks the other doors and windows are all locked, washes her face, brushes her teeth, changes into comfortable clothes. Sets out a box of protein bars on the nightstand. Tells herself that turning down the blankets on Kara's side of the bed is simply the practical thing to do because it's then easier to tuck in the comatose superhero later. Not at all because she'd do practically anything to spoil the girl. 

 

That's when she realizes it's not even been a week and she's already established _Kara's side of the bed_ in her mind. _God_ , she's hopeless.

 

She settles into her own side (which extends slightly past the halfway mark, thank you very much, because Kara's just going to invade it anyway) and checks the Supergirl news alert on her phone. The last update is a bank robbery from the early afternoon, so whatever pressing issue called Supergirl away from dinner must be secret enough for a media blackout, or it hasn't come to a head yet. Either way, there's no way of knowing when Kara would be finished.

 

There's also no way of knowing if something has gone wrong - no one would really think to notify _Lena Luthor_ if something happened to _Supergirl_.

 

Lena considers staying up to wait for her, and immediately shuts down that train of thought. That would be a step too far into desperate.

 

Luthors are never _desperate_.

 

So, she does not wait up for Kara. 

 

Instead, she checks her other news alerts (L-Corp, Lillian, Lex, Guardian, Kara-the-Reporter, Lena herself) and her emails. She reads over a report she’s scheduled to discuss with the Taiwan branch tomorrow night. And another report on a related product announced by a different company. And an article or three about the competing products already on the market. She spirals down a rabbit hole of information, _completely by accident_ , and eventually dozes off sitting up against the headboard. She doesn't know how long she's out before her balcony door opens and the sound of it startles her back into reality.

 

She has never actually seen Kara come in this way before, and it's an... _unsettling_ experience. Luckily, Supergirl is still in her suit so Lena's half-asleep mind doesn't quite make the jump to thinking she's under attack by a flying zombie. It's a close thing, though, as she watches the hero drift through the door, partially upright but limp and bent like a marionette without someone holding the strings. Her head is lifted just enough that she could see where she was going, if her eyes weren't completely shut, but her shoulders and arms are slack. The hand she used to open the door doesn't let go of the handle, so much as she eventually drifts far enough away for it to fall off and drop back toward the ground. 

 

If Lena hadn't been expecting a visitor, she would have screamed. Or shot at her. Probably both.

 

It almost looks like a fog has rolled in the door with Kara, but as she moves closer it's clear that Supergirl’s actually just covered in a light powdering of pale gray dust. Lena realizes what that means for her linens when Kara is about halfway to the bed, and she rushes to her feet. The cleaning company nearly had a fit after the soot incident, and the last thing she needs is for them to start asking questions. 

 

“Wait, wait, stop there,” Lena mutters as she rises. Kara doesn't, of course, but her gentle momentum is stopped by Lena's hands on her shoulders. Kara's face goes from disturbingly slack to the familiar pout now that she's bumped into an obstacle. 

 

“Lena,” Kara whines.

 

“I'm right here, you've found me.” Lena takes one of Kara's hands and guides it to her own forearm. “See? Now stay right here. I need…” She trails off in thought, which is not helped by the way Kara starts gently stroking her arm. If she could get Kara into different clothes that would resolve most of the issue, but she doesn't know how the suit comes off and she _would not_ feel right about trying to figure it out now. She also doesn't know what, if anything, Kara wears under the suit and this is extremely not the time to focus on that bit of curiosity. There's too much dust for a lint roller, and any kind of brush would just transfer it all to the floor. Any kind of blower would have the same effect. “I need a vacuum or something. Is your cape a separate piece? I've always meant to ask.”

 

Lena moves closer to inspect where the cape attaches to the suit, looking for some kind of latch hidden in the collar. Whoever designed Kara's supersuit had enough concept of design elegance to give a flying superhero thumb holes in her sleeves, surely they had a system worked out for a removable cape that wouldn't come off from the forces of flight. Although that did leave the question of whether there was a quick release so that an enemy couldn't throw Supergirl around by her cape. How could you design something with that specific of a force tolerance, that's the greater question here. Kara might be bulletproof, but getting sucked through a jet engine can't be a fun experience for anyone.

 

She tugs the cape this way and that, slides her fingers between it and the suit, and eventually finds a catch. She's leaning close, trying to see the thing and figure out how it opens, when Kara’s head gently bumps into hers. It reminds her of a cat looking for attention, a gentle nudge of the forehead, and half a second later the signals coming from the rest of Lena's body filter through the whirr of her analytical side. 

 

While Lena was distracted, Kara’s hands have found their way to Lena's hips. It's arguably their favorite place to be, if the last week of cuddling is any indication, but that doesn't mean Lena is _prepared_ for it. Or prepared for the fact Kara's hands are gripping her hips _under her shirt_ and Kara's thumbs are tracing slow circles along her skin.

 

With how many times she's woken up to Kara’s hands all over her, she really should be used to it. She shouldn't be losing the ability to focus just because an impossibly warm, pretty blonde is stroking her skin. Just because she's the only person who has touched Lena so gently in months. Just because all Lena wants right now is to curl into her and soak up all that warmth. It isn't _just_ any of those things, it's mostly because it's _Kara_ , and Kara is overwhelming in all the best ways but - 

 

_A Luthor is never desperate_.

 

“Hands to yourself.” Lena pulls Kara's hands away, and lets them drop back down. Surely the pout is back, but Kara just sort of faceplants into Lena's shoulder as soon as her other points of contact are removed. Lena sighs, and accepts her fate - Kara is still hovering creepily, so it's not as if she's heavy. Lena slides her fingers back under Kara's collar and this time, with her new angle, the cape’s latch clicks open easily. There's another on the other side, and one at the back of Kara's neck, then the whole thing fwumps to the floor in a cloud of dust. 

 

Lena, on her next breath, discovers the dust tastes a bit like concrete mix. She really hopes it isn't toxic to humans. 

 

“Alright, you stay here. I'll just be a moment.” She takes a step back, and Kara drifts after her. Of course. She backs up further, pulls the bench from the foot of her bed into Kara's path. Kara bumps into the bench with her shins and, surprisingly, stops.

 

Unsurprisingly, she pouts and mutters something that doesn't sound even a little bit like English.

 

“I'm sorry, love. It'll just be a second.” Lena is in her workshop, bunching up the cord to her trusty shop vac, before the pet name really registers in her mind. It isn't a _bad_ thing, exactly, the sentiment is certainly true enough but… Well. She doesn't want to frighten Kara away. 

 

The bench is an inch away from tipping over when Lena returns to her bedroom, tilted up on two legs as Kara very slowly tries to drift through it. Kara's muttering has progressed to a whiny grumble, but still doesn't have any words that Lena can discern. The vowel sounds all have that accent Kara gets when she speaks Kryptonian, which Lena finds absurdly attractive.

 

No. No, not the time for _that_ , either. 

 

She guides Kara back toward the cape and puts the bench back where it belongs. She tugs Kara's boots off and vacuums _most_ of the dust off the rest of the uniform. She chides herself the entire time she's cleaning off Kara's skirt, pulling it taut by the hem so it doesn't get pulled into the vacuum. When her knuckles brush against Kara's tights, she focuses on guessing what material they're made of instead of on the muscles inside.

 

She spends too long on Kara's hair, fluffing it with her fingers to shake all the dust out while holding the vacuum nozzle a safe distance away. Even when she's satisfied Kara's hair can't get any cleaner, it takes a minute to convince herself to stop carding her fingers through those curls. 

 

Not for her own benefit, of course, but because Kara is making that purring hum noise at the attention. 

 

And because Lena is, in fact, _desperate_ to make Kara happy, despite her best efforts against the feeling.

 

_God help her_.

 

“Alright, I've got to get _some_ sleep.” Lena shuts off the vacuum and turns to climb into bed. “The hell were you doing until 3 a.m. anyway?”

 

Kara doesn't respond, of course, but floats to the bed right behind Lena. As soon as her knees meet the edge of the mattress, gravity kicks back in and Kara starts to move more like a human again. A drunk, uncoordinated human who doesn't especially notice things like blankets, but it's an improvement over the creepy marionette. 

 

A short wrestling match later, Lena successfully has both of them under some amount of covers, and Kara has successfully burrowed into her companion’s arms. Lena thinks that she may have lost some bed territory in the struggle, but with Kara’s arms around her waist and Kara's nose against her collarbones, she can't be that upset about the loss. 

 

Lena adjusts her pillows, and discovers where her phone ended up by dropping it on her own head. Its news alerts have an answer to why Kara's been out so late: headline after headline about Supergirl defeating another massive alien, interspersed with headlines about the amount of destruction caused. Lena frowns at a photoset depicting the before and after of a parking garage, considering how much force would be required to reduce the concrete back into powder. She pulls Kara just a little bit tighter at the thought. Kara just happily nuzzles into Lena's shoulder, as though nothing was wrong, and Lena feels the edges melt off her anxieties.

 

Later, they can talk. Later, Lena can ask how much of the garage was destroyed by Kara being bodily hurled through it. Later, she can offer to make some kind of force field generator for the next time Kara is forced to be a wrecking ball. Later, she can engineer the thing anyway after Kara declines the offer.

 

Later.

 

For now, she puts the dangers of Kara's life out of her mind. For now, all she can do is revel in the feeling of Kara curled against her chest, close and safe. For now, it's enough to tuck Kara's head under her chin and let the hero's warmth lull her into sleep.


	5. A Busy Morning After

Kara, climbing through the window to her _empty_ apartment, thanks every god in every pantheon she can remember for the gift of her super hearing. Without it, she wouldn't have heard her phone vibrating from inside her discarded boot in Lena's bedroom. Without it, she would have missed Alex's call, and not known that she needed to abandon her (truly excellent) omelette breakfast at Lena's and fly back to her apartment before Alex arrived to check on her. As it is, she's only just landed when Alex lets herself in the front door.

 

“Why Kara, thank you for unlocking the door for me like you said you would. Or opening it any of the times I knocked.” Alex picks up the two donut boxes in the hallway - which she had put down to find the right key. “You are truly the best sister a girl could have.”

 

“Sorry,” Kara gestures to her uniform and to the window she hadn't yet closed while she scrambles to think of an excuse. “There was a- uh- a mugger. Those are always quick, y'know, so I thought I'd be back in time to let you in.”

 

Alex sets the boxes down on the kitchen counter, too busy selecting a donut and pointedly ignoring Kara to register the obvious lie. “It's alright, the city is more important to you than your only sister, I understand.”

 

“Aleeeex,” Kara whines, dragging it out her entire way across the room.

 

“No, no, just for that I'm taking _all_ of the raspberry filled ones.” Kara hugs Alex around the shoulders from behind, pinning her arms and making more pouty remorseful noises. “I'm not forgiving you that easy-- and _especially not if you get me all dusty what the hell._ ” 

 

Kara lets go and jumps back, leaving a few barely visible gray clouds on Alex's black jacket. “Oh gosh, I forgot, I thought it was all gone-”

 

Alex brushes at the concrete remnants left on her arms. “How are you _still_ dusty, did you just pass out in your suit when you got home?”

 

“Well, uh-” Kara is fairly certain she never made it home, and possibly nodded off mid flight. “- yeah, basically. But I slept great and I'm fine now!”

 

Alex turns to frown at her with concern. “You said you were fine after the lava people too, and you nearly solar flared then.”

 

“Well yeah, but that was more of a _campaign_ , this was just one fight.”

 

“And what is that on your face?” Before Kara can think to stop her, Alex's thumb rubs at Kara's cheek and comes away with a smudge of deep red lipstick. The color Lena chose to wear today. Alex must recognize what it is, as her face jumps from concerned to confused-slash-intrigued. “Who--?”

 

“The mugger!” Kara explains, a little too loud. Alex's eyebrows go up. “Or no, not the _mugger_ obviously, I meant the _victim_ of the mugger. The mugg- _ee_. She was, uh. Grateful. Got me before I knew what was happening.”

 

“I see.” Alex picks up a napkin from the counter and wipes the lipstick off her thumb, then gets the rest off Kara's cheek. There's not much, all told, but Lena’s preference for saturated colors means a little bit can go a long way. _Oh Rao, please don't let Alex notice whose signature color it is_. “Apparently I need to become a superhero, if it comes with damsels throwing themselves at you.”

 

Kara blushes hard, but Alex has the annoying big sister grin on. Kara decides to grab on to this new direction and run with it while she can. “I mean, it's pretty nice, but there's not as many damsels as you would think. You've still got to help all the grandmas too.”

 

Alex snorts. “Could be worth it. Depending on the quality of the damsels.” She walks into the kitchen proper to drop the napkin in the trash, then returns to the boxes from that side of the island. She picks up a filled donut and points it at Kara. “I'm still taking all the raspberry ones.”

 

“Oh come on, it was for a good cause!” Kara reaches for a jelly donut in the box, but Alex bats her hand away. 

 

Alex picks up that donut instead with her other hand and takes a bite out of it.  With her mouth full, she mumbles, “I forgave you a little bit because you went out to help people, but now I'm mad again because I'm jealous.”

 

“Come on, I'll take you with me next time.” Kara reaches for Alex's first donut, the one she hadn't bitten yet. Alex pulls it away. “You can do the saving, be the big hero.” Having now swallowed her first bite, Alex licks the full diameter of the previously unmarred donut. Kara glares at her. “That won't stop me.”

 

“Gross.” Alex steps further out of reach. Kara lifts off the ground, intending to arc over the kitchen island headfirst and grab the donut, but Alex starts yelling and holds it out defensively instead. “Wait wait you'll get concrete all over the rest of them! Here! It's yours! You _gross cheating jerk_.”

 

Kara delicately takes it and primly sets her feet back on the ground. She sing-songs out a smug _thank you_ as she goes, then takes a bite right over where Alex licked. Kara might have minded if it was anyone other than her sister, but it's completely worth powering through any grossness when it gets Alex to grimace so hard she grows two extra chins.

 

“Other than being disgusting, you're okay?” Alex looks Kara up and down while she takes another bite. “No lingering aches or pains from demolishing a parking garage with a Mygorg?”

 

“I think technically he was demolishing the building with me for most of the fight, but I really do feel fine.”

 

“You're _sure_.”

 

“Yes, geez, I'm sure. Once I've had a shower and washed my suit you'll never know it happened.”

 

“All right, if you say so.” Alex continues watching as Kara picks out her second and third donuts, one for each hand. “You've just been… weirdly chipper lately. Even for you.”

 

Kara grins and shrugs. “I've just been happy, Alex. It happens sometimes.”

 

“I know. I just worry, you know me.” Alex squints suspiciously at her sister. “You’d tell me if something happened, right?”

 

“Yeah, of course.”

 

“Because you’re acting like something happened.”

 

“Alex. Nothing happened.” Kara panics. Internally, of course.

 

“Or like something _else_ happened with that mugg-ee-?”

 

“Oh gosh, Alex, do you hear that?” Kara walks backwards to the window. “There’s a siren! I gotta-”

 

“Kara, I’m not falling for that again.” Alex points at her. “You always do this.”

 

She’s already diving out the window. “Gotta go, love you, don’t wait up!”


	6. Seeing Fireworks

Lena really shouldn't be surprised by explosions anymore. _And yet._

 

She left the office early, barely past 6, in the hopes of getting to have dinner with Supergirl in her apartment instead of her office. However, as soon as she entered the porte cochere something felt… _wrong_ in a way that couldn't be explained by the early hour. Her car was there, but her driver was not - not inside the car, not opening the passenger door, not loitering at the valet stand. The valet wasn't there, either.

 

She takes a step back, turns to retreat back inside, and jumps at the sudden loud noise when _her car explodes_. She stumbles, but stays on her feet, as security guards come running out of the building and the few pedestrians nearby run away. The guards are yelling, but she can't make out what they're saying over the ringing in her ears. She marches herself into the building, ignoring the receptionist making a fuss over her, and into the security office. She tells the man at the desk there to call Agent Danvers, then plunks down in one of the plastic reception chairs to glare out the front windows, wait for the authorities, and seethe about this newest attempt on her life.

 

Part of her is afraid, of course. She dimly registers pain in the shoulder and arm that were closer to the car, assumes she's been hit by some amount of shrapnel. Her staff are more afraid of her scowl than they are of her injury, though, so it can't be that bad. It just hurts like a _bitch._ So, granted, this was an exceptionally close attempt on her life, but it's not anything new and she has _places to be_ for god's sake. 

 

There's no formal plans tonight between her and Kara, there never is, but they have an _understanding_ with each other that has held for the last two weeks. Lena provides the boxes of protein bars, Supergirl provides the entire menu of some restaurant for dinner. Kara goes home each night with a kiss on the cheek, insisting that she should try to stay in her own apartment, and joins Lena in bed a few hours later. Lena gets Kara's affection, Kara gets… whatever she gains from her sleep-flying habit, and the cycle resets. They don't need a formal agreement beyond that. Neither has a solid enough schedule for _plans_ anyway. 

 

And now this, this horribly timed assassination attempt, is screwing up even _that._

 

So yes, part of her is afraid, in a distant, impersonal way. The majority of her is livid. And personally offended. And wondering _where the hell is Kara._

 

Three NCPD vans pull up, closely followed by two of the nondescript black SUVs favored by the “FBI.” Agent Danvers is the first person out of a black car, and immediately strides toward the guard closest to Lena's still-burning sedan outside. Detective Sawyer is the first NCPD official to meet her as they converge on the guard, so the interagency power struggle that follows is more of an interagency conspiratorial nod. The couple talk with him for a few seconds, maintaining just enough space between them to look like professionals, then each steps away to call commands to her own team. Lena doesn't think she will ever stop being impressed by the efficiency of their working relationship.

 

Kara still isn't here.

 

The Detective and the Agent come inside to briefly interrogate the receptionist, but _Maggie and Alex_ are who approach Lena's chair.

 

“Damn, Luthor, were you hit?” Maggie asks, moving behind her to look at her shoulder.

 

“You tell me,” Lena quips back, but her sarcasm is lacking. The exhaustion of shock may have caught up to her. Kara still isn’t here.

 

Alex frowns, kneeling in front of Lena to better see her face. With genuine concern in her voice she asks, “How do you feel?”

 

“Irritated.” Alex’s eyebrows lift, and it's the same look of exasperated care Kara makes. Lena sighs. “I don't know. My arm hurts, and my shoulder. I haven’t noticed anything else.”

 

“Is it alright for us to touch you?” Maggie asks over the shoulder in question. Lena appreciates the concern, so she just nods and doesn't make a jibe about Maggie's automatic use of _us_. “Help me get your coat off?”

 

She shifts forward in the chair, and finds that moving her arm gives a sharper pain than she anticipated. Alex grimaces in sympathy at Lena’s yelp of pain, and moves to help as well. Lena lets the couple do most of the work, moving only as much as she must, and they have her coat and suit jacket off in no time. She doesn’t see the damage to either garment, as Maggie lifts them away from behind, and she’s focused her attention out the windows again to better ignore the pain. She isn’t sure she wants to see just how many cuts were made in the wool, how much blood has soaked into the silk. It might hurt more if she knew, might make her bodily injuries more real. 

 

She’s written this entire outfit off as a loss anyway.

 

Kara still isn’t here.

 

Alex kneels in front of Lena again, examining her eyes, producing a tiny flashlight from a pocket somewhere. “Alright, genius, what are the months of the year in reverse?”

 

The absurdity of the question catches Lena off-guard. “What?”

 

“It’s a cognition check,” Maggie supplies. “Babe, when you’ve got a sec...?”

 

Alex looks up at Maggie, and Lena is fascinated by watching one side of a facial conversation. Alex nods, eventually. Her voice doesn’t give away anything from Maggie’s side. “The months, Lena.”

 

“Right, of course. Uh.” Now that she’s been asked the question, Lena blanks for a second. She has to mentally run through the months forward before she can even guess at backward. “December, November. Sep- no, October, September. August. July, June, April, March, February, January.”

 

“You left one out,” Alex mutters with a smug kind of smirk.

 

“What? No I-” Lena runs through the list again, realizes the mistake. “May. I left out May.”

 

“That's a B+ on cognition, Luthor, you've been neglecting your studies.” Alex turns off the flashlight and puts it back in her pockets, still entirely too smug for a medical professional. “Good news, you don't seem to have a major concussion. Shuffling Fall and leaving one out of Summer is in line with just being shaken up, a minor concussion tops.”

 

There's a commotion outside and all three women look up to see that Supergirl has _finally_ arrived. She looks a little overwhelmed by the scene, and stops an agent Lena's met a few times to ask for an update. While they talk, Kara finds Lena, Alex, and Maggie through the window. Lena can see how the fear drops off the hero at seeing them all safe, and she's not certain how she feels about that. Not certain how she feels about being the same priority as Kara's sister. 

 

Kara looks to Alex first, face full of concern and questions. Another facial conversation happens while Kara is still listening to the agent - the nonbinary one, all Lena can remember presently is their surname is Hispanic but she _knows_ them damnit - and Kara nods resolutely right before Alex turns away to move behind Lena. Alex might say something about checking Lena's injuries, but now that Kara is locked on to Lena the rest of her world goes fuzzy. 

 

_Please tell me you're okay,_ says Kara's expression. 

 

_Where the hell have you been,_ Lena glares back. 

 

Kara blinks, confused and apologetic, and the spell is broken. The agent outside draws Kara's attention away, tapping her forearm and pointing toward the wreck. The agent inside distracts Lena by _stabbing her in the shoulder_. 

 

“ _Shit_ ,” Lena snarls.

 

“You're telling me,” Maggie mumbles distractedly. Lena turns her head to see Maggie and Alex both examining something in Alex's now blue-gloved hand. Her other hand is turning it with a pair of forceps and Lena wonders just how many pockets Alex’s uniform has. Maggie continues, “You've got some glass embedded under your skin, likely from the car’s windows.”

 

“Likely?”

 

Alex picks up where Maggie left off, “It looks like the right kind of glass to be from the windows, but depending on the kind of explosive used it could be from the device. I'd like to take you back to my lab to get it extracted and examined.”

 

“Of course,” Lena sighs. She looks back out the windows again, watching Kara try to put out the fire without blowing away any important evidence. 

 

It isn't until Maggie pats Lena on her good shoulder with a knowing pity that she realizes she isn't controlling the look on her face. Pathetically longing, is all she can think it must be. Maggie smiles and says low enough that Alex doesn't hear, “She'll be there too, don't worry.”

 

Lena doesn't dignify that accusation with a response, and makes a point of not looking at Kara on the walk to the DEO truck. 

 

Her face might betray her again if she did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seriously wrote this before the Sanvers breakup, and also I need Maggie for a later bit. I'm sorry I love you all


End file.
